It was a Friday night; I came home late from work. I was so tired. My sister was sitting on the couch channel surfing. We found the channel showing the Vancouver games...the men's long program was about to start. I didn't even know that men figure skated (it is never on TV in Australia except for at the Olympics), and so I was very bemused!

My sister and I spent the group making random observations - we did not know who this Chan was, but he fell a lot - Takahashi needed a new costume stat because the checks were , we LOVED this beautiful young man at his first Olympics for Switzerland (later I Googled Stephane Lambiel and discovered that, oh dear, he was already a double world champion, it was his third Games, and he wasn't that young... ), and then we thought Johnny was lovely, and we were and all the way through Lysacek.

And then came this tall, proud Russian onto the ice. And I said, "I have heard of this man. He loves this jump called a quad. It was in the newspaper."

And then he started moving, and suddenly I was not tired anymore, and I didn't need to know anything about skating, or the jumps, or the scoring, or anything else, to know that...here was someone more special than anything I had ever seen. He carried himself with pride and assurance; he was the best and he knew it, but it was not arrogant. He moved with power and certainty, grace and beauty; he skated with passion and joy. He looked like he was having fun, enjoying every moment of his time in the spotlight, and in that moment, my heart ached to know his joy, I wanted nothing more than to feel what he felt, to know more about this golden, magnificent angel who I could not tear my eyes away from.

In the weeks that followed, I spent hours on Youtube, Wikipedia, all places, learning and learning and learning about my new golden hero. With every performance I saw I saw a repeat - that bright, shining charisma, that proud, powerful charm that draws all to him.

And still to this day no-one has yet caught me the same way he did, no-one has yet repeated that magical night for me. It was Artur's long, lyrical line and yet shy, sad face that drew me in; Joshua's long, classical body and magnificent rise to redemption. Jason's bright, bubbly personality, his ability to make you watch, caught me. For all of Artur, Joshua and Jason, there is one program of theirs that has that same magic power Zhenya cast that day; for Artur, it is The Bolt; for Joshua, the magical Rach program; for Jason, the beautiful Liebestraume. And yet it is but one program, and one program only; for Zhenya, it is every single program that can entrance me.

The first time I saw Zhenya was on the 14th of February, 2006: men short program at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin. I was nearly 14. Until a few days before, I didn't know who was Evgeni Plushenko. I didn't know anything about figure skating, since it wasn't much popular as a sport in Italy, there were no shows and TV didn't broadcast competitions. Anyway, some days before OG a classmate of mine told me that at the Olympics there would be the one who is considered as the greatest skater in the world, a Russian guy named Evgeni Plushenko. She knew it because her best friend practised roller skating and her coach told her something about him.

So, that evening I was with my mother and we watched the competition. She went on commenting and saying how cute Stéphane was ( ), and I remember that I noticed Brian Joubert at first (I thought he looked like a friend of mine, lol ), then I saw that tall, blonde guy I recognized as Evgeni Plushenko… and all began. The first notes of Puccini’s Tosca resounded in the air and two seconds later I was completely enthralled by that man. Then the triple axel come, that triple axel that entered figure skating history and millions of people around the world still remember. That black angel who flies high in the air and comes back to earth opening his wings and stealing a blue, proud glance at you. To me he was pure charisma, some kind of gentle masculine charme. He radiated a strong grace from every single move.

This is the reason why I like Evgeni’s skating so much. His charisma. The power to build empathy between him and the audience when he skates, a connection that makes you feel as you are in that third dimension that is not the real world, or the competition or the show you’re watching, it’s the story he’s telling you.

Oh ladies, you have captured Plushy's skating so beautifully! A few of my favourite phrases from you all:

"I love Plushenko’s skating purely because his skating moves me in some way""Watching Plushy's best performances is like watching a Natural Wonder, it is easy to appreciate but hard to answer 'how and why'.""Evgeni is able to give expression and form to all these different emotions and experiences, he has such a great range in his skating, because he has this range, all these different facets, inside him. To go out on a limb here, it's the size of his spirit. This is, perhaps, what I want to call his "connection to the truth""And then he started moving, and suddenly I was not tired anymore, and I didn't need to know anything about skating, or the jumps, or the scoring, or anything else, to know that...here was someone more special than anything I had ever seen."

As for me, I first saw him during the FS of the 2002 Olympics. Weirdly enough, it wasn't mesmerization at first sight. I saw Timothy Goebel, Plushy, then Yagudin. I was impressed with all three and remember being skeptical of Plushenko before his skate. Who was this blond kid with the long nose and a loud costume? But his program (Carmen) was nearly flawless and I found myself intrigued. However, I got distracted by Yagudin's more "typical" heartthrob looks and came away from the Olympics thinking I was a Yagudin fan. A year later, I was in China visiting relatives and skating was on TV. This beautiful sleek blond Russian glided onto the ice and I recognized him as the eye-catching kid from Salt Lake City. I pointed him out to my dad who commented, "wow, he's lethal like a stealth missile." And that was when it clicked. There was this aura about him. He hadn't even begun skating and you could feel his mood wash over every viewer. There was something magnetic about him - you wanted to watch him, you wanted to feel what he felt, and through him, you felt connected to something altogether bigger than either yourself, the rest of the audience or him. It's this fusion of truth, spontaneity, emotion and charisma that you've all mentioned. I feel that there's something elemental about Plushy's skating. When he takes the ice he IS the ice, but he is also a man and he is himself. He's not trying to dazzle with technique or artistry...he's a channel for truth - the truth about emotions, about the ice, about the human spirit and about Plushenko.

The power, the passion, the readiness and the assurance of his movements, these are the things that make Plushenko standing out from others. He is like a leopard, elegant but powerful. His skating is not just beautiful to watch, I must admit there are plenty skaters out there who can skate very beautifully, maybe more beautiful than Plushenko's according to certain criteria, but the energy, the vitality in his skating are so powerful, sometimes you just totally ignore the details of his staking (which by no means not beautiful and complex) and soak into an ocean of emotions.

Plushenko has a soul of fighter, a soul that full of love for life, for sports. When he skates, he opens himself a bit and let the audience who appreciated him sharing his soul for a while. That is why he prefers to skate to music that he could "feel", because then he could resonance himself to maximize the emotions he projects. If he wants, he can deliver such performance which is not for faint-hearted because it will be mind blowing and breath taking. This is a gift given by GOD, and I am so graceful to be able to feel such magic power.

"Evgeni was created by aliens. Nature doesn’t make such things. Although meeting him in person he seems strikingly normal, something in him ignores the human laws and defies the details of the normal human beings. His presence on the ice magnetizes at first glance, he stirs up curiosity. He exudes enough light to fill up a hall with turned off spotlights. He skates with the easiness with which he would close a door and leave a whole universe behind him. He has an enormous charisma, force and a remarkable body and face expression. He has “something” undefined that differentiates him from the start. From the moment I saw him, I knew that he was that kind of skater who if he were to die in the middle of the representation he would finish his number to just collapse at the end, at the applause. Evgeni is an expansive, intense, direct personality. He expresses himself with the whole body, he communicates through his pores when he says nothing. He looks you in the eyes and it seems as if he dives into you."

Not an easy question, but I'd like to try and find an answer. (If it's not obvious for anyone that I LOVE Evgeny )Maybe I should start where it all begone. To be honest with you, I cannot remember that time.

I was about four years old, or maybe a little bit older when I first saw HIM. Love at first sight. Or, in this case, rather at first skate. So, telly-time at winters was about Plushenko. Or as I called him at first times, that blond Plush-Guy. I didn't even know his name, but I was sure, that he's the best. He is soo handsome, and powerful, it's just like magic. It's not simple skating, what he does. It's passion, love, art... Something which cannot really be described. You look at him, and even in front of the tv you'll feel his charm and personality. Take a deep look at his blue eyes and you will get a sens of some magnetic power. You can't look anywhere else, jut at him.

Of course I couldn't say all these things by that time, but I can now. At school we had to write some kind of essay on our role models. No question, it was Plushy. His will to keep on fighting for his dreams, the way he performes art in a sporting competition, are quite appealing to anyone, who's a shy little girl, with blond hair, and shiny blue eyes. So later on, I had written this essay in my mothertounge, than in English and in German as well. And as years passed by, my writing became longer and longer. More awards and titles won, more on family and civil life (I'd rather say his life IS skating so let's put it as out-of-the-rink-life), charity work and all other stuff. Ok, now it's clear that I'm his fan since the very first time I saw him. But all my dreams came true when in 2010 Kings On Ice visited Budapest. I was lucky enough to be there, and see all these brilliant, talented skaters, and my beloved Plushy. He got standing ovation every time he stepped on the ice. After his second program, he was waweing to the crowd, and all the audience was cheering as if we were all gone mad. Actually, I nearly went, because... Throwing kisses into the croud is one thing. BUT throwing a kiss to a (not any more so little) girl, while looking into her sparkly blue eyes, that is really mind-blowing. I couldn't stop smileing for at least 3 days. And though it wasn't yesterday, I still clearly remember that minute, when HE noticed me in the crowd, when our eyes met. And I hope, that I'll never-ever forget the magical moment, when we saw each other.